meme

The newly-renovated Oakland Museum of California is filled with all kinds of nifty interactive displays, like this one that allows visitors to add their own momentous events to a timeline — what would you add?

I am thinking about this weekend, it is GLORIOUS out. I have some work to finish up, meeting a couple folks at the small dog park this afternoon and testing out the vintage floral sundress that had the split boob seam that I sewed up — hopefully it will hold, the fabric defines threadbare. I figure the park isn’t too far from the house to expose myself for too long riding back if need be, and I’ll bring along a cardigan just in case.

I am hoping tomorrow involves some more road tripping, Chad has been frazzled all week so I don’t know if that will happen. There are plenty of lovely outdoor spots around here so it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if we didn’t make it all the way over to the ocean. Though I’d really like to. I cannot get enough of the Pacific.

Does the juxtaposition of red and purple always make anyone else think of Flowers in the Attic? Or is that just me?

Bonus photo of my daughter’s cat, Casey. He is a giant beast and if you come over, you have to pet him the whole time you are here because any break you can give me from his constant, pathetic meowing for attention is desperately needed. Thankfully the sun finally came out, because warm pavement is about the only thing besides direct contact that that shuts him up.

A quick shout-out: Girls Rock Camp is one of the very, very best organizations around, my daughter [she’s the one playing the guitar] went every summer through her teens and now she is a counselor passing on the knowledge. If you have or know a girl who wants to rock [which I’m guessing is all of them], you can find a list of all the local camps here, and if you are moved to donate, they are always looking for some help, they are volunteer-run and offer full scholarships to a lot of girls who wouldn’t get to go otherwise, including mine.

Today is blue Friday. I’m beat so you’ll just have to make up your own stories about these photos.

I actually took this one today, for this project, which I am a little bit ashamed to admit is something I have not done so far this week. I kept meaning to, but the weather has been wicked fickle, the second I realize there’s some good light, a giant black cloud blows in. I do not exaggerate, it was been careening back and forth from freezing and gloomy to brilliantly sunny in the space of 15 minutes all week. Plus there’s been some insane wind.

Anyway. The rosary came from a bag of rosaries I bought at the first estate sale of the grand Alameda dame who owned my lovely triangle corner house over on Gibbons. The hankies — which are painted, not embroidered — are from the antiques fair, a bundle of them in a satin, padding hankie case inside a box with some girl-pirate wrapping paper that I was oohing over a bit but not thinking about buying until the seller said ONE DOLLAR. Who can resist that.

Last May Day some friends had the idea to celebrate International Workers’ Day with a visit to a local organic farm. We picked strawberries in the rain next to the Pacific Ocean and I was astounded by the size of the coastside clover flowers.

My daughter started attending Girls Rock Camp in Portland its second year in existence, 2002. In 2008, she moved on up to counselorhood with the brand-new camp here in the Bay Area. That’s her in the back, playing the lunchtime show [which is really, really cool — lunchtime shows when she was a camper included Peaches, Sleater-Kinney, The Gossip, and The Decemberists] and one of her campers rocking out. Girls are so freaking awesome. If you have one, I can’t recommend anything more highly than rock camp. Seriously.

We moved from a downtown penthouse apartment in the heart of Oakland to a quasi-suburban house a couple years ago. I hadn’t had contact with a garden since the 1980s and had never planted a single thing except an avocado seed, but the second we signed the lease, I ran out and bought a passionflower, dug up some earth, and there you go: I was a gardener. Who knew.

Even with tags, I still have no idea what this flower is. I went through a macro phase and this was one of those efforts. I love the color combo here, the lavender and green all bokeh-ed out with a sliver of petal in focus.

The last one is of the feral parrots in San Francisco that the book and documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill are based on. They come down from the hill to nibble at the cherry blossoms in the spring and it is like nothing you have ever experienced. The movie’s pretty darn good, too, highly recommended if you can’t make it over to downtown SF.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Took a plane to go on vacation and stayed in a hotel [not motel! not couch!] for an entire week. Experienced a real lightning/thunder storm.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for this year? I don’t make them. I am making a list of things I would like to work on this year, which is the list I make all the time.

5. What countries did you visit? Just the U.S. I did go to the South, which is *like* a different country.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? getting better at jewelry making, selling some to people.

9. What was your biggest failure? I don't want to sound all motivational, but I don't really believe in failure in general. Some things it takes me awhile to get around to *doing*…but doing is most of the battle so whatever and if it didn't work, figure it out a/o move on.

11. What was the best thing you bought? this year's ornament.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? All those tropical electronic ones. “Maybe So, Maybe No.”

26. What was the best book you read? Langston Hughes’ I Wonder As I Wander [I know I have mentioned this before but 1. it is awesome and 2. I don’t read much anymore.]

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If it was over. Oh, wait, it is! HOORAY FOR 2010.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? There are so many. Today I am miffed about the cover story in this week’s Economist [women will make up more than 50% of the US workforce in a few months] that says “motherhood, not sexism” is the reason for wage discrepancy between the sexes.

38. Who was the best new person you met? I have enjoyed getting to know J. better. Also Coach Thompson is pretty awesome. And I have met and gotten to know more people than I got to know last year.